Stamping hard or irregular surfaces



UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES S. ANDERSON, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO.

STAMPING HARD OR IRREGULAR SURFACES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 346,632, dated August 3, 1886.

Application filed February 24, 1885.

' improvement is fully set forth in the following specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, easily-operated means or process for stamping on hard surfaces, which is equally applicable to a curved, sunken, or irregular surface; and in carrying out this invention I first prepare the surface to be printed or stamped upon by coating it over thinly with a size or varnish of such a'character that it will quickly dry on being placed upon the surface, and when almost dry or tacky the stamp is applied. Preparatory to applying the stamp I coat the stamp with bronze or color, either dry or mixed, as a pigment to a thick consistency. This pigment, which I place upon the stamp, must be of a slower drying nature and less tenacious or sticky than the sized surface printed on, so that when the pressure of the stamp is released and removed from the surface the pigment on the stamp will readily be released, thus producing a neat even impression, and not a ragged rough surface, or uneven edges, by this manipulation.

The present or usual manner of using such stamps is to apply the size to the stamp directly, and then to the surface to be stamped. The result is almost invariably unsatisfactory, as the size spreads and the stamp slips, owing to the size being of an oily or lubricating character. This sized ornament is then bronzed.

By my process the surface to be printed being first prepared with the size or varnish, as above described, and permitted to partially Serial No. 156,782. (No specimens.)

dry, the color or bronze, when applied by .means of the stamp, will not spread, nor will the stamp or type have a tendency to slip, owing to the adhesive or slippery quality of the surface. It is in this particular that the process herein shown is exceedingly practical and useful. This process is especially adapted to rubber or like composition stamps used. in printing or stamping on non-absorbent or hard surfaces.

It is obvious that where an uneven surface or irregular face or object is to be stamped or printed upon by means of a stamp, and the surface so prepared is slippery in its character, it would be impossible to impress the characters from the stamp upon such surfaces evenly and without making the edges thereof rough and uneven; but by having the varnish placed on as I describe, and permitting it to dry before applying the stamp upon the color or pigment, there will be no tendency of the stamp slipping or moving from the place upon which it is designed to make the impression.

Having described my invention, what I claim is The within-described process for stamping hard or irregular surfaces, which consists, first, in coating the surface with a varnish or quick-drying size, and then while said varnish is still in a tacky state applying to thesurface a stamp coated with the color or pigment, which is of slower drying nature than the surface-coating, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand, this 10th day of February, 1885, in the presence of witnesses.

JAMES ANDERSON 

